Rail bosses are poised to bring back InterCity 125 carriages from the 1980s to limit the fallout from mass cancellations after faulty Hitachi trains were taken out of service. 

Great Western Railway is considering bringing in additional British Rail-era carriages as part of emergency measures to keep passengers moving.

Other operators are supporting GWR, which runs express services between London, Wales and the west and has been hardest hit by the crisis. 

Trenitalia, which runs c2c and is owned by the Italian government, has loaned GWR three trains. Cross Country ran 28 trains across the south west to help out GWR.   

Separately, Government figures released on Wednesday revealed that the taxpayer subsidy to keep train services running across England had ballooned to more than £11bn - some £1bn more than previously disclosed. 

National rail operators received £7.4bn and Boris Johnson handed Transport for London a bailout of £3.8bn. The Government’s spending watchdog will grill officials on Whitehall rail spending during the pandemic on Thursday.

The history of InterCity 125s can be traced back to the 1960s, when engineers designed diesel trains that could run at 125 mph.

Repeated delays meant that the trains did not come into service until the mid-1970s, but quickly became popular among rail enthusiasts. 

A spokesman for GWR said: “We have continued to work on all possible options to boost train capacity for customers.”

Although the operator had no immediate plans to introduce InterCity 125 locomotives alongside the carriages, “we have ruled nothing out”, the spokesman added. 

Hitachi said: “Our investigations have given us a thorough understanding of the issue and we are making progress with our partners to return trains to service safely.”

LNER’s Azumi trains have also been hit. It will bring back the 125's successor, the 225, into service this week.

A spokesman said: “Once trains have been checked, they are being reintroduced back into service as soon as possible.”